October 11, 2024
The PCI and Democracy
The PCI (Italian Communist Party) always
maintained an ambiguous position. On one hand, it accepted democracy and
contributed to the drafting of the constitution, but on the other, it supported
Bolshevik communism, which viewed democracy as bourgeois and an enemy of the
proletariat (a view still held by a few nostalgic communists today).
The issue is that in a democracy, one cannot deny freedom and participation to a
segment of society, even if it opposes democracy itself, especially if that
segment is significant.
In short, paradoxically, without the PCI, an opponent of democracy, we might not
have had democracy. What would be the point of elections if parties like the PCI
and even the MSI couldn't participate?